Add add-on channel to blender.community
Finding Blender add-ons/scripts should be much easier and announcing new add-ons should be centralized.
Blender.community could be used for those purposes by simply adding an add-on channel here and in that channel add optional tags for the various areas the add-ons are working in(ex. the names of the workspaces) and a tag for Blender version number for easy searches.
There is a place for 3DS Max scrips/add-ons like that here: scriptspot.com/3ds-max/all/sort-created and looking at it, it seems to me, that blender.community already have most of that functionality covered, so it is mainly just a question of adding an add-on channel here.
And there are plenty of unknown and forgotten super useful add-ons out there. In the two areas I've been digging in, I found all of these add-ons:
Text Editor: blenderartists.org/t/how-would-you-show-some-love-for-the-blender-text-editor/1163857
Video Sequence Editor: blenderartists.org/t/all-add-ons-ever-made-for-the-video-sequence-editor/1188770
BTW. there is a nice icon for an add-on channel here(you guys need to ask permission, though): gitlab.com/stilobique-blender-addons/SubstanceBridge
Basically what I'm asking is to move the Add-ons tag into a left sidebar Tab...
23 Comments
I agree that it would be very helpful to have the addons section here; meanwhile, have a look at these resources: blender-addons.org/ is closing June 2020 and also this is good source: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13epB4VTy8rtQrK4XorpLEaLlBzAw-isXal_zzK8dHcI/edit
* @shq * I didn't know about that google doc(which for me underlines the need for a centralised add-on channel). Who did it? Where did you find it?
The guy behind blender-addons.org is doing a great job, but having to curate all scripts and add-ons will be too much of a workload for just one person. So having a system where people can post and maintain their posts themselves, would minimize the workload.
Btw. I think an add-on channel doesn't rule out the blender-addons.org add-on reviews and curration. The aim for a blender.comunity add-on channel would be to include everything.
* @ tintwotin * i found it in this thread blenderartists.org/t/list-of-addons-that-work-with-2-8/1132912
At least some " Knowladge base " like webpage where addon creatorsor any other Blender ID users can create page for addon with tags, links to dowbload/buy, pictures, description, any else. Where can be lisetd all of existing...
+1
I am not against the idea but it seems to me that THE place to find and announce add-ons is on the blenderartists.org/c/coding/released-scripts-and-themes/50 forum. And it's funny because where did you find your addons? On BlenderArtists... 😅
The forum is already well known, features BlenderID logins and makes it easy to discuss about bugs and feature requests.
The Blender.Community website needs LOTS of love. It lacks many convenience features and optimizations, imo (especially the backend behind RightClickSelect).
But why not.. It would be another place where to find and talk about add-ons.
* @ xan2622 * When I made those lists, I posted about on Blenderartists, I found many, many scripts which never had been posted about on Blenderartists. And on top of this, the add-ons posted about on BA are not properly tagged, so actually finding all ex. animation related add-ons through a search is not possible, and you would have to go through a lot of useless comments to get to the posts containing the add-on info and download links.
* @ tintwotin *
What I would love to see is a centralized website where all blender addons are listed (free and paid), with a way to get our installed addons updated.
Have a look at this suggestion: blender.community/c/rightclickselect/Npdbbc/
It's already possible to get updates notifications and automatic updates downloads (for free addons) thanks to this code: github.com/CGCookie/blender-addon-updater but all developers need to add it in their addons and have to have a Github repository to host the source code.
For paid addons, it's a bit more complicated because most developers don't want their source code to be freely available (on Github for example). But, I wish there was a way for this centralized website, thanks to the BlenderID, Gumroad or BlenderMarket logins, to check if the user bought the paid addon, then allow updates for these addons too.
If you use Linux (apt, yum, synaptic, ...), on this OS, it's really easy to get updates for all the installed softwares. I wish there was a way to do the same for Blender.
* @ xan2622 * My twitter reply: Currently there is already the Blender Depot and the add-on updater script. But a proper "app store" can only be properly implemented by the Blender Foundation and will be a huge undertaking. An add-on channel is the lowest hanging fruit for the missing add-on exposure.
Pablo wrote on Twitter: "I've mentioned in the live streams that we want to do it. Thanks for the reminder we'll look into it as soon as possible."
how about a place were both paid and free addon can co-exist ? what i don't understand, is why the blender market is not allowing us to post FREE addon there too...
A centralized add-on community driven database that covers all the add-ons would be very useful : from Blender Official, Blender Community, GitHub, BlenderMarket, Gumroad, personal websites, etc..
For now Blender the lists of useful add-on resources that i know:
Blendeartists
I also think that the community can be used to discuss bugs in add-ons
* @Alexei * Yes, but bug reporting is properly better organized on GitHub.
yes, definitely
Seems a very good idea, to me. Right now, it's difficult to find all the addons for some category (e.g. the video sequencer). Also, when changing version 2.79 to 2.80, there was much confusion which add-ons will work on the new version. This channel could also be used for that.
Related/Duplicate to this proposal
* @Jason van Gumster * So a collective 99 votes by now for adding an add-on channel here at blender-community? Who do we approach to get that channel opened?
* @ tintwotin * Pablo or Francesco run the backend for blender.community . That's probably the best folks to ping.
* @Jason van Gumster * I haven't seen Pablo or Francesco around at the Blender Coder's chat for a long time.
* @ tintwotin * wait for next blender today liveand make this the top voted question
* @Jason van Gumster * The proposal you linked to is from May 2019, right now there are 155 collective votes for it. I know the BF devs say they working on a different solution, but as this is much needed, could you help opening the add-on channel here? There can be more places where add-ons are listed, so that shouldn't be a problem, if the BF devs finish their solution to this problem at some point.
* @ tintwotin * In that case, I'd suggest contacting Pablo or Francesco. The biggest thing is finding someone one maintain that corner of blender.community .
* @Jason van Gumster * I have been in touch with them, but nothing happens... which is why I ask you. Basically it's no different than the Job or Event boards - except the tags which properly should be Blender version numbers, and the different Editor names to categorize the add-ons.